Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Pretend Friends and Real Life



Some of my best friends are confined to the pages of a book. I think about them and I dream about them. I wonder what their lives would be like if they were my neighbors.Harry, Hermione, Jonas, Katniss. These are my friends.


I also have friends that live only on my television screen. Pretend families like the Gilmores or Bravermans.

When I think about Embracing Rest, reading is high on my list. A comfortable spot, a cup of coffee and a good book is quite possibly the most perfect scene I could imagine. Replacing that book with a screen to watch a favorite show ranks a close second.





Our family has been in the process of thinking about what rest looks like for about a year now. I was really struck when I realized God wants us to rest. We were created and the very next day we rested. We don't work so we can rest, we rest so we can do our work. Rest is essential to our daily life.


Rest isn't just retreating from my work, it is allowing myself the moments I need to sit and listen to what God might be trying to tell me.


Harry, Jonas, and Katniss have all taught me something about God. When I have an imaginary conversation with one of them, it helps me to flesh out my thoughts about what God wants my real life to look like. When I retreat to Stars Hollow with the Gilmore Girls or to Berkeley with the Braverman clan, I think about my neighbors and how I can love them. I remember that my real life world needs love and care.

But God calls me not just to rest, but to work. I leave this time of respite, whether in the halls of Hogwarts or the streets of Stars Hallow, refreshed and ready for a new day, or week. A day where my pretend conversation with a pretend friend turns into a real conversation with my neighbor. A day where the task at hand is easier because I've been reminded that God is with me in the daily tasks I face and in the choices I make. A day where God has used my pretend friends to remind me to see the real life that is around me.

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